Cable diagnostic and monitoring system
First Claim
1. A cable television diagnostic method for a cable television network, comprising:
- selecting a television set top box to be polled;
sending a polling message to a modem forming a part of the television set top box from a cable television headend via a cable television cable connection to the set top box;
wherein the polling message instructs the cable television set top box receiving the polling message to obtain an operational parameter, that can be correlated to user rights associated with the set top box and indicative of authorized use or theft of service by the set top box;
wherein the operational parameter comprises at least one of a smart card identifier (ID), a logical channel ID, an MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group) video packet identifier (PID), an MPEG audio PID and a conditional access service level;
receiving a response message from the cable television set top box containing the operational parameter of the television set top box, where such response provides the operational parameter of the set top box from which the response message is sent;
retrieving usage rights information associated with the television set top box that indicates what usage rights a user has paid for;
comparing the operational parameter with the usage rights information to determine if the operational parameter indicates that the television set top box is being used outside of authorized usage rights paid for; and
if the set top box is being used outside the authorized usage rights paid for, taking a corrective action.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A cable television diagnostic method for a cable television network consistent with certain embodiments involves sending a polling message to a plurality of modems forming a part of a plurality of television set top boxes from a cable television headend via a cable television cable connection to the set top boxes; wherein the polling message instructs the cable television set top boxes to obtain at least one operational parameter of each of the television set top boxes; receiving a plurality of response messages from the cable television set top boxes, each containing the at least one operational parameter of the television set top boxes; determining that one of the operational parameters from one of the television set top boxes is outside of a specified range of values; and aggregating the operational parameters of the plurality of set top boxes received in the response messages to determine if the same operational parameter is outside the range of specified values for more than the one of the television set top boxes. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.
53 Citations
9 Claims
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1. A cable television diagnostic method for a cable television network, comprising:
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selecting a television set top box to be polled; sending a polling message to a modem forming a part of the television set top box from a cable television headend via a cable television cable connection to the set top box; wherein the polling message instructs the cable television set top box receiving the polling message to obtain an operational parameter, that can be correlated to user rights associated with the set top box and indicative of authorized use or theft of service by the set top box; wherein the operational parameter comprises at least one of a smart card identifier (ID), a logical channel ID, an MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group) video packet identifier (PID), an MPEG audio PID and a conditional access service level; receiving a response message from the cable television set top box containing the operational parameter of the television set top box, where such response provides the operational parameter of the set top box from which the response message is sent; retrieving usage rights information associated with the television set top box that indicates what usage rights a user has paid for; comparing the operational parameter with the usage rights information to determine if the operational parameter indicates that the television set top box is being used outside of authorized usage rights paid for; and if the set top box is being used outside the authorized usage rights paid for, taking a corrective action. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer useable storage medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:
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selecting a television set top box to be polled; send a polling message to a modem forming a part of the cable television set top box from a cable television headend via a cable television cable connection to the cable television set top box; wherein the polling message instructs the cable television set top box to obtain an operational parameter that can be correlated to user rights associated with the cable television set top box, and wherein the user rights are indicative of authorized use or theft of service by the set top box receiving the polling message; wherein the operational parameter comprises at least one of a smart card identifier (ID), a logical channel ID, an MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group) video packet identifier (PID), an MPEG audio PID and a conditional access service level; receive a response message from the cable television set top box containing the operational parameter of the cable television set top box, where such response provides the operational parameter of the set top box from which the response message is sent; retrieve usage rights information associated with the cable television set top box that indicates what usage rights a user has paid for; compare the operational parameter with the usage rights information to determine if the operational parameter indicates that the cable television set top box is being used outside of authorized usage rights paid for; and if the cable television set top box is being used outside the authorized usage rights paid for, take a corrective action. - View Dependent Claims (8)
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9. A cable television headend device, comprising:
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a memory; and a processor programmed to; selecting a television set top box to be polled; send a polling message to a modem forming a part of the television cable television set top box via a cable television cable connection to the cable television set top box; wherein the polling message instructs the cable television set top box to obtain an operational parameter useable to diagnose a fault within the cable television set top box and that can be correlated to user rights associated with the cable television set top box and where the operational parameter includes conditional access information that is indicative of authorized use or theft of service by the set top box receiving the polling message; receive a response message from the cable television set top box containing the operational parameter of the cable television set top box, where such response provides the operational parameter of the set top box from which the response message is sent; retrieve from the memory usage rights information associated with the cable television set top box that indicates what usage rights a user has paid for; compare the operational parameter with the usage rights information to determine if the operational parameter indicates that the cable television set top box is being used outside of authorized usage rights paid for; and if the cable television set top box is being used outside the authorized usage rights paid for, download corrected conditional access data; and determine whether the operational parameter indicates that a fault has occurred within the cable television set top box; and if the operational parameter indicates that the fault has occurred within the cable television set top box, automatically perform a deterministic action comprising assigning at least one of a warning and an alarm to activate a system associated with the fault selected from a group consisting of an email system, a text message system, and a paging system.
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Specification